Apparatus for coating metal plates



2 Sheets-Sheeu l.

{No Mom! I T. L. THOMAS. APPARATUS POP GQATING MBTALPLATES.

No. 527,628. Patented oet. 16, 1894.

(No Model.) `2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

Tf. L. THoMAs. V APPARATUS FOR COATING METAL PLATES.

1\I0.527,62a.` Patented 001;.16,1894.

IIT

1 -iu.vert1cal section through one ot the tinal UNITED STATES PATENT Gritos.

THEDORE L. THOMAS, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.-

APPARATUS FOR COATING METAL PLATES.

SPECIFICATION formingpztrt :if-Lettore .Patent No. 527,628,

dated octet-ar 1e, 1894.

Application filed January 31,1893: Serial No. 480,220. (No model.)

`full and enact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming. a part of this specification. n

'lhc process of coating metal plates with tin, as at present commonly practiced, is substantially as follows: 'lhe sheets of metal,

cut. into the desired sizes havingn,lr been-I pickled,'annealedand rolled, and again pickled and washed, in manner well known to the art, are subjected to abath of palm oil yzo or melted tallow, and placed in the lirst bath of tin .m'lf h en after proper interval .meyer-e.

plunged in a second vbath ot tin, after which they have the dross brushed oit and are subjected to a`third bath of tin from which they are taken and placed into abath of oil or tallow, and after having been passed between smoothing rolls sorted.

My present invention has for its object to provide mechanism whereby the plates after they have been washed and are in readiness they are finally cleaned and [or the first immersion lin the oil bath, can' be mechanicallydelivered toand removed from theseveralbaths, and pass betweenA suitable brushes `and rolls in yreadiness for the final cleaning'operation. invention I have accomplished-by the novel apparatus herein described, illustrated in the accompanying,r V*drawings and particularly specification.

pointed out in the claims at the' end of this l`igure.l,is1a view partly in vertical'longitudinal section, and partly in sido elevation ,of my improved apparatus. Fig. 2, i-san enlarged view in vertical't-ransverse section online 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3,' is an enlarged detail view in side elevation showing: more particularly the mechanism for openingsr and closing the ,plateI holders. Fig. 4, is 'a'dctail View in side elevation ot' the mechanism for operating the brushes whereby the dross is removed from the -plates. Fig. 5, is a view tin pots. "Figc G' is a detail side View of the 'lhis object ofy delivery end` portion of the. carrier, the releasing bar being shown in engagement with the latch bar for retaining the jaws of the plate holders open. t

The series of pots into which wilibe dipped lthe plates ot' metal tovbe tiuned are set in a' brick structure A (commonly called the stow), the pots containing the liquid tin being mounted upon furnaces a' from which the products ot' combustion are carried 'away by suitable dues 'a' that pass around the fur# nace walls, and'thence to a suitable stack.

In the accornpanyingglr` drawings I have shown anapparatus adapted to subject two sets of plates simultaneously to each of the steps of the tinning operation, and for this reason,the drawings illustrate the brick work or Stow as provided with two pots l5 that willcontainpalmnlor like suitable lnx, two pots lthat,.will contain the tirsttin bath, ltwo pots B2 that will contain 'the second bath,- -two pots B3 that will contain the third orrelined tin bath, and twopots B4 containing palm oil, tallow or the like.- Adjacent the delivery. end of the apparatus will extend a suitable conveyor belt C that will be operated by appropriate mechanism to deliver the plates D, that are to be tinned into position to be received by the'plate holders E, the conveyor belt C being provided with snitable arms c adapted to retain the plates D iny upright position. When an apparatus having ten pots, is etnployed, as illustrated in the annexed dran",`

ings, thereshould be twelve pla-te holders and these plate lholders will have simultaneous movement imparted thereto'by a com mon carrier frame or beam F to which all the plate holders are connected. y,Preferably cachot the plate holders E consists of creeping jaws c that are pivoted, as at e to a, bracket e2that depends from beneath the carrier beu-m E andthe up-v per ends of the jaws eare'united by thetogl'rle links e3 to the bent; end g ofthe shiftine'rod G, the upper end of .this rod being attach d asatgftothe mainshiftingbarll. (SeeFig.

It will be observed that each of Athe brackets-g y is formed with avertical slot e4 through which passes the end q of the shifting rod G. the slot thus permittim,r the rod (i. to open and close this jaws ot its corresponding plate holder .E. "The main shiftingbar is united land theV bari eine enmennleanier er .nemen ny generlei pivot-linlrslrand is held normali "eta-'dis' Vsignings" bu mgatpachd tothe' baril: ais'shown,"

orio the"beam(l ,The carrier been; E ie' euse.V

arejonnaied 'in editable Y'leeeringe inthe "side-walls offilie striictnrelwhile the eviter endsfof the i elsa-fte are prov'idd'witla euilzable geerwneeis'nny which 'nl' inenlrfwillbe' iinparfedjihere A i T `The operationof; bhefnenlrn'nisin *as i hns enz'nn'ed'thai tEeeonveyer-beli C hasdeljiverejd Vljoi Ylille drawings, and that these plates have.

ero

been grasped ley `ther plate' holders( Eri'llie, gear WheelsLw-illhave revolution imparted nFigll; thereby. tnrn-inzig the shafts Lft'and their ci'anlre' L lustich manner as to lift the:

f gam-ier been; nella wier inline pleieflroidrss, `Erelid. the pletesllrhereby withdrawing the: plaies Dffi'omlzlie conveyor bei; C., :ABlsjej .revolniionoihe gear wheels-L2 continues, the

Eivillhe'faised snch disiance: Dlvrill be lifted'above the level Ofiline, severelpots containing the besthsinio. which ille vplates are io be ininiersed';eendwheny vthe beam BT is lowered'liyf continled'irevol lutionoi'the' shafts l3' `the platesll) wliluvbe delivered into the pots -B' i'iontainin'g"` the. bnilrof palm oil or lllrefmateriah",[inwlbel understood that while the carrier beam Fis' A being thns.lifted, thc"conveyer loelt C will be operated ley' suitablexnechanisdi sfo as 1o deliver new plates Dinie position to ne grasped bythe pleite holders when' the movement of the beam. F andthe plate holders just described, has been rrwersed.4 When the plaies Dvhave been delivered into the pots' B 'con' -taining ythe 'palm oilfor `inio einher of the other pois),1it is necessary than ille plates D should be released from the holders, dnd

`this releasing of the jaws oflho'plawe heldere is effected by the following.mechanismz To -the beam F is pivotally connected, as ai, n,

one or more shifting levers N, the upper end of these' levers being pivetally connected as at fn; to the releasing bar ll. The lower ends of the releasing levers N ire so extended, that when. these levers are lowered (as shown in Fig. 3) as the bear'n is moved downward @sito deposit thee-pleiten l) inio ihogpots, elle onde of the levers will Aconlaciawith. the .re-v

leasing pins N .thatextend outward from niebeeislfenowg, iebeingigen;

senese r iher ja'we'will be opened yterelease ille plaie;

befneailfthe' pivoted crank anni ,0- that i pro- '.jeots/ from 'Te ,fixed parte of the structnre into he path of `its corresponding releasinglever.- Consequently,whenille revolnilon of the :gear WlieelsL? is reversed so as'4 to move the,

plate holdersbackwar'cl, into position to' engage the :next succeedingv platee, the, crank Verrno().will continue to hold 'ihenpperends y:Inor'ement" ofl the releasing bar Llljnnt'il illeA carrierl been; E sel nearly'approaohes the," `re` leasing. barili `1 ;l1'ati i -F shall-pass' behi @andi-engage the end of lnereieesing barfrishpwn* by einen lauern jlg'. l olf-ine drawings, ff-lt will be understood,

engage -tlle end of 4the releasingbarHas seen lign Figs' 6.4 Vlien -the releasing barI il has been zinns' locked td-'the carrier beann` F by V"une dog or D leasinglevers N will pass from engagement with the pivoted cranks;0,1andthe releasing bar H and the carricrbearn F will.tliusjre` thepivoted leech or dog'y end of `che carrier peana latclifl, *Elie upper end of onereV er represent 'the latch`ifn fproperpositionio i IOC mainlookedtogetherf-until these part'slinve moved so faritoward the position chown .by

full lnefs in Fig'. 1,'t-hai the free endLof thel dog or latch]3 will strike-the fixed. sto'p 1o Which,will turn Athe dog'or latchl P abone its pivot point until itsdieengagcmenirom't'he 4 end of the releasing baril, thereby permitting thereleasing bar to be'forced upward bythe springs Kv4 so as to canse kthe jaws' ci?V the plate holders E to be closed uponthe plates D. Hence it will be seen that as the plate holders are moved in forward direction their jaws will securely hold ille plates therein, but daring the backward movement of the plate holders the jaws will beopened in readiness t engage a new set of plates. 'Le will also be seen that by 'the first forward movement 'of the plate holders ther/wo plaies,4 Iii-st taken from the carrier belt U, will be delivered into the oil. potei?, rind that by -the succeeding 'forward movement oi." the plate holders these IIO rig

pote iihen into ille tin pots B', nextinto the tin pots B2, next into chemin persil, next;

imo the oil pots ligand finally ihese'fplatesA will be Withdrawnfrorn'ihe appnratu and its will else be observed that: au each forward.

movement of the plate-holders'two new platen l): will be pieken from illecarrier belt; C and .ln 'order to remove the dress from the pinten i le brackets 2 n `adjacent the top of the tin pot B2 areinounted the shafts 3, 4, 5 and 6.

as they are withdrawn from the second set of tin pots, l employ -the brushes, and means for operating them, neri:y to be described, reference being bad'more particularly in ,Figs.1, 2, and 4 of'the drawings. Upon suitable which rest upon the' brick work .ries the rocking lever S to the lower end of which is connected the rod s2 that carries the brush s3. Preferably the several rocking le-v v .vers are connected together by the pitman rods 20, as shown in order to insure the unison movement of these several levers and thev brushes. One of the shafts 6 is extended outside its journal bearings, as' shown in Fig. 2 and at such ppint is provided with a crank arm 30 that iseonnected by the 'pitman 3l, the opposite end of which is attached to a block 32 that is mounted in a slide way 33. (See Fig. 4.) The slide block 32 has a curved end as shown, that will be engaged'by an eccentric arm T mounted upon the shaft t t -J Asuitably geared'with the operating mechanism of the apparatus, so that this arm shall move at proper intervals to correspond with the movement of the other parts of the mechanism. block 32and its guide way 33 serves to hold the block normally in the path of the arm T. The rotationof the shaft t that carries' the eccentric arm T will be so timed that the ec centric arm willl operate the sliding bloclr 32,

vand through the intermediatemechanism will close the brushes r', 1", s', s3, at the instant that the plates are being withdrawn from the tin pots B2, and consequently, these brushes will serve to remove thedross from the surface of the plates.

In order to effect the rolling of the metal plates as they are withdrawnfrom the final oil pots, I provide that/the metal plates shall be deposited into the pots at one pointand withdrawn therefrom at another point, and to edect this, employ the mechanism next to be described: Inside the pots B4 are arranged the plate guides 50,` these guides consisting of wires bent preferably to the shapesho'wn so as to form allaring mou th to guide the plates in to the inclined space or channel 5l and thereby set the plates to one side of the vertical line and in such position that when thegplates are lifted they will pass into the hito of the smooth ing rollers within the topsot the pots. These rolls preferably consist of the larrangement shown, that is to say, in the top et each ofthe pote B there are live rolls, the three upper rolls W, W', W2 being arranged above the rolls W and W and into l ceived by the jaws ofthe nal plate holders E.

A spring. 40connected to the slideA i oil pots lit The smoothing rolls in the Afinal. oil Apots B" lower rolls X and X', and in such position that when the plates of metal are introduced into the pots B4, they will descend and i l2, antlwill be guided by the rolls into ,the channelstpl at. the base of the pots'and when withdrawn, `will pass between rolls X and X', W and W.. -In order to lift the metal between rolls W 7 plates out of the guide-ways 5l and cause them 75 to pas's into the bite ofthe smoothing rolls X and X', I place at the bottom of each of the oil pots B4, a lifting bar pvoted at one end and havingits opposite end connected tothe lower end of a lifting rod 6l, the upper end of 8o which rod is held in contact withthe periphery of the cain wheel (i2 that ismounted upon a suitably driven shaft 63. Thecani wheel .62 has a depression 64 in its periphery and when the end 65 of the liftingrod 61 is within 85 this depression the lifting bar 60 isV at the baseof rthe guide way 5l; but when the cam wheel 62.is' revolved, the *rod 61 will belifted and will raise the metal plate from out the guideway l51 and 'cause it to pass intov the bite ofthe lower smoothing rolls Xand- X. The rolls X, X and'W, W2 will be driven by Aappropriate mechanism asindicated by they arrows Fig.1, so that when the plates are liftedinto thebiteof the rolls X and Xthey 9 will be delivered by said rolls betweenthe position to be re- It will be observed that the two final plate holders serve simply to remove the plates f-rom roo the final oil pots and deliver themv on to the appropriate table (not shown), and it will be seen by reference to Fig. l of the drawings that'these two final platel holders while occupying the same relative 'position with e'- 'fc5 spect to each other as do the remaining plate holders of'the series, are separated fromsaid remaining plate holders a-distance slightly greater than'the distance of the other plate holders of the series.

plates from the final atfa different point from that at plates are delivered into suchpots.

ers are to remove the which the will serve to smooth the' plates, aftervwhich; they will be rubbed with branleathelgor the like and packed in boxes for shi ment. Y,

It will be observed that in eac yof the sev-4 eral pots of the series,

receive the plat'esas` they are delivered into the pots by the plate holders. Inasmuch as the plates are delivered separately into the' ots, their entire surfaces will exposed to the action ot the baths and con-y sequently, it is only necessary that they should remain a very short time in the baths.

It will be nnderstpod of course, that the mechanism which drives 4the conveyor belt C 132e.

will have an intermittent motion imparted thereto, and that the mechanism wherebythe carrier beam F, the brusheaapd the smoothing rolls are operated will "De conrlhe reason for this no arrangement is that the two final plate hold- I have provided wire r'zo guide frames Y havingthe flaring mouths to be instantly res nested by suitable gearing' so as to perform their several functions at the" roperl times. lIt ismanifest that the precise details of construction above set outLmay be ,varied 5 without departing from the spirit Aof the inf A 'plicate sets ofpotsaud plate holders, these f might b'e'airang'ed in'trip'lcate sets, and so,

. j also,1if desired the pojsmightl be broadened ro and two 'parallel/settil of plate holders might be simultaneonslybperated. .It is obvious also, that insteadof employing tyrel sets 'otr smoothing rollsin each ofthesmoothingpgts B2 one set'ofisuch rolls Amight be usedyaud if `r 5 desired, the olls W2 can be removed entirely d Having thus described my inveutiomwlat' as new, and desire to secure by LetY` 1; In apparatus of the character described,

zo the combination with aseriesof pots for co`n. taining diderent baths, of a series ofplate holderssupported above said pots containing different baths and corresponding in arrangement with said series of pots,virhereby` said A series of plate holders may be simultaneouslyoperated to deposit or withdraw plates into or from said pots'containing different?baths,`

and vsuitalile, mechanism for simultaneously shifting said plate holders tn eiect the trans- 3o fer of the metal plates from the different pots stantially as described.

l "12; In iapparatnsof the character described,.

the' combiuationwith the plural series of pots 15 `for.containing diierent baths, of the plural selsjorplate holdersY supported above said potscontaining diierent baths correspondj ng in arrangement with said series of pots whereby said plate holders may be simnltaf 4o neously'cperated to deposit, or withdraw the plates into `or from said pots and suitable; l mechanism for simultaneously shiftingsaid whereby said series of plate holders may"be simultaneously operated to y deposit or with# draw plates into or from said pots, suitable- 5 means forconnecting said individual plate holders and suitable mechanism for sim ultaneously litting, shifting and lowering said,

plate holders, 'substantially as described.

tainngiliierent baths, of a series of plate holderssupported above and corresponding in arrangement with said s'eries of pots,

whereby said series o'f plate holders may be 65' simultaneously operated to deposit or with the comb nation with a series of pots'for draw Vplates into or from said pots, and suitable mechanism for shiftingsaid holders back vention. T husfor. example, instead bf` duinto` the 'succeedingA pots of the soriesg'fsnbholders corresponding in, arrange` In apparat'nsof the character described,- 6o the combination with a series of pots for con` "and forth between said pots tothe series and means ffor operating said plato;` holderstograspand releasetho platesgbu stantiallyasdescribed `5. In apparatus ofthe character described the combination with aseries ci .iidilllll potsfor containing diiferent bathsgot les of plate holders-corresponding- .fn'ient with saidseres otA potsw taneouslyh q Y plates into or from said pots,a oornmenfo .shifting and loweringsaid plate holders, sub1-- t'o said carrier and mechanism for operat ing `said cranks to 'shift said carrier and the plate tenesse Pmi? ressive transfer of the metal lplates from thc? in'erent pots to" thejfsucceed nlg pots in this"` operatedt'o deposit or withdraw platesto or from saidpots, suitable "mech" is' simultaneously shi'tting'saidholde the 'transfer Yoi? theinvetal ferent pots to the succee `ries and meohanisinior ajntolnaticall op'eni and closing said platehcldersLttime` grasp the plates.; Siifsleitlly sldri i 6 In apparamentthesherttfisslibvd the 'combination with"afseriesfof'potsltor taining` dijerent baths, M pla holders supported above and correspindinfl4 arrangement with said series of pot'swhere 'said series i .t the ing-pots lo: th'

fot plate'holders mxsyfbe -siniu shifted todeposit or withdra rier to effect th`e transfer ot fthe'metalfpla d the different potsinto the suc'ceedi 'PMB ili th'sriss substantially@ '1989i'. t I 7.''In apparatus `o t `the`yoharacter`fdosorl Vthe combinatioumithaseries otleqnifdistmw pots .I 4fori contalninilz'i'f'lthe liquid-iban i series ot plate. holders and a commonca to which said plat'eholders are connected a distances apartlccrres ending t`o thedistanc between the pots, an mechanismi'or lifting,

stantally as described. 8. In apparatusnf thecharacter described tra the-combination with'afseries of 'pots for oon-' taining liquid baths, of a series of plate hold-` ers, a com mon carrier whereto said plate holdl t ers'are attached, parallel cranks cbnnected holders carried thereby, substantially'las de scribed. i

9. In apparatus ofthe character described,` the combination 'with a series of pots 4for oon taining different baths,`of a series of plate holders correspo'ndiug'in arrangement withrj" said series of pots, each of'sail plate holders comprising two pivotel-jaws', a carrier whereto said plate holders areattached, meeh-` anism for'shfting 'said carrierback and f0rth between the pots and a movable releasing bar connected with the jaws of the plate holders and means for operating said'releasing ba in order to open and close the jaws ofwpt plate holders, substantially as describedry' 10. In a paratus of the characterdesdlrillj 

